Royston Law Firm Gutted By Fire

December 18, 2013

By MJ Kneiser, WLHR Radio, Lavonia

Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms and the State Fire Marshal’s Office continue to comb through what’s left of the Mays and Roger Davison Law Offices in Royston hoping to determine the cause of the fire that gutted the building Tuesday.

Royston Fire Chief Billy Parham said fire broke out at the law offices on State Route 17 in the pre-dawn hours Tuesday morning.

“We got the call about 4 a.m. and when we got here, the building was fully involved,” said Royston Fire Chief Billy Parham. “We pretty much had it under control in about an hour. There are so many files and records in there, and it’s an older building too, so it was a fight.”

Parham said he called for the ATF and Fire Marshal to investigate because of the nature of the business involved.

However, he did not say if he believes the fire was deliberately set.

Roger Davison is a partner in the law firm and he sat in his white pick up watching as firefighters and investigators continued to look for hot spots and a possible cause.

Davison said a lot of the firm’s files were lost in the blaze.

“They picked me up at the house about 6:30 this morning, and this is what I found,” he said. “There’s a whole year of 1099’s in there that were lost. I don’t know how we will replace them.”

At one point, it was thought a suspect was in custody in connection with the fire.

About the time the fire broke out early Tuesday, a suspect was picked up walking in downtown Royston not far from the law firm.

However, authorities said the man was wanted on outstanding warrants and they do not believe he was connected in any way to the law firm fire.